Matching sets of points between a measured set and a template set is a common problem in astronomy, biomedical imaging, animation, precision instrument testing and calibration, and other technologies. One such technology is probe card analysis, in which planarity and alignment of a plurality of probes arranged in an array may be tested or calibrated through comparison with a known location of one or more fiducial marks, for example, disposed on or integrated into the structure of a fiducial plate. In particular, some probe card analysis systems employ optical or image data acquired by a camera or other imaging apparatus; in some cases, the imaging apparatus may be disposed on the opposite side of a substantially transparent fiducial plate from the probe array associated with the probe card. These acquired data are representative of both probe tips and fiducial marks, and data processing may be employed which seek to identify position and orientation of probe tips relative to each other through comparison with the known position and orientation of one or more fiducial marks. Alternatively, the position and orientation of imaged probe tips may be compared to ideal position and orientation data maintained in the template or reference data set.
In the case of a probe card analysis system, image data representing the probe tips may generally be considered “measured” data or points; in some applications, the “template” data may represent ideal or reference points (derived, for example, from the design specifications of the probe card or an industry standard) independent of imaged fiducial marks. Similarly, many of the foregoing technologies, among others, employ comparative metrology relying upon measured data sets and template, or reference, data sets; in many instances, point matching techniques are employed in an attempt to match data representing non-ideal measured points (which include errors, missing points, and erroneous points) to data representing known ideal, template, or reference points. In practice, one example of an application in which point matching techniques may have utility is in comparing an image acquired by a telescope to known locations of celestial objects as recorded on a star chart. While some data processing components attempt point matching operations to fit the measured points to a known reference frame, currently implemented systems and methods are deficient in that traditional methodologies do not accommodate fast, robust, rigid point matching of measured positions to template positions in an integrated and elegant solution.